Apollo Hospitals, ISCCM and Medvarsity collaborate to train over 100,000 doctors on Ventilator Management

The training will empower doctors and healthcare professionals to handle, manage and operate the ventilator along with an understanding of techniques to optimize mechanical ventilation and minimize complications in invasive ventilation (intubation) and management of COVID-19 patients.

The training will be delivered through a series of online webinars with live sessions. The webinars will be organized on Medvarsity`s platform and will be free of charge and open to all healthcare professionals in India.

Dr. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group and President FICCI said, “As India gears up to battle COVID-19, it is imperative that our healthcare workers are better prepared and equipped to meet this challenge.

"As the government and hospitals come together to strengthen the response through procurement of life-saving ventilators and other medical equipment, it is critical that all our doctors are skilled on the use and management of ventilators.

"Through this partnership, we aim to train over a lakh doctors over the next 30 days. This will ensure that the doctors are ready and can face the challenge of managing a critical COVID-19 patient on a ventilator with knowledge and confidence.”

As India prepares to manage and treat patients in respiratory distress from COVID-19, doctors and healthcare professionals managing ventilators are as critical as the machines.

Poor ventilator management can result in damage to the lung tissue that may not be immediately apparent. The Ventilator Management training will train doctors on the correct ventilation strategies that will protect the lung tissue while allowing adequate oxygenation of the blood.

This will help in promoting successful recovery from the acute respiratory distress syndrome that is a common complication in many patients with COVID-19.

Dr. Dhruva Chaudhry, President, Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine said, “SCCM has joined hands with Medvarsity on an ambitious project of training 1 lakh people in mechanical ventilation, keeping in sight the epidemic of COVID19. It's the most disruptive phenomenon in the world, which people are witnessing. It has redefined the priorities across board & social sector including health & education will never be the same.

"One of the biggest transformations I envisage in Medicine is-training in virtual world & expansion in deep machine learning. Challenge will be how well we adapt. Therefore this association between two forward looking organisations should not only be of mutual benefit but will make impact only if these benefits are reflected on the ground for the good of both medical professionals & public in large”.

Gerald Jaideep, CEO, Medvarsity Online Ltd. spoke on the partnership, “Medvarsity’s vision has always been to impact healthcare through education. We are very fortunate that Apollo Hospitals and the Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine have partnered with us to reach out and train a potential 1 lac doctors on Ventilator Management. We hope that this initiative is able to improve the clinical outcomes of patients across the country when they need it the most.”

The webinars began on 20 April 2020 and currently being streamed on Dosily.